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Nationally Recognized Program

Arlingtons’ PLTW Biomedical Science Program is one of 11 Distinguished PLTW Biomedical Science Programs in California, and has been since 2018. We also have an Internationally recognized & award winning HOSA program.
The National PLTW program has over 2.4 million students in more than 11,500 schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and over 80,000 teachers trained to date. PLTW also has over 51 University affiliates, and partnerships with Fortune 100 and 500 companies, and various forward thinking philanthropic organizations.

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EXPERIENCE A PLTW CLASSROOM

Students learn content through:

Case-based scenarios
Hands-on learning
Activities, projects, and problems
Real world application
Open-ended problems

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A closer look at the PLTW classroom

Let’s take a deeper look inside a Project Lead The Way classroom.

Content is taught in context.

Looking around in a Principles of Biomedical Science Project Lead The Way classroom, you will note students learning content in context. Students learn, via autopsy reports and medical history documents that Anna suffered from a variety of illnesses that may have contributed to her demise. For example, Anna was a Type 1 diabetic. Through an exploration of diabetic emergencies throughout Anna’s life, students investigate the way in which water moves in and out of cells and discuss how this relates to symptoms related to diabetes.

Activities, projects, problems.

The Biomedical Science curriculum is engaging and focuses on real world, hands-on activities, projects and problems. With the model of activities, projects and problems it allows for scaffolding learning – Within the courses, and courses build on each other, preparing students, building foundational skills to solve more complex problems on their own. This is building the foundation in critical thinking and habits of mind. Activities, projects and problems are building a content base as well as skills to follow a process.

Part of learning content in context is that the curriculum exposes students to many careers in the biomedical sciences, spanning the range of educational requirements.

In PBS, students play the role of a microbiologist as they work through a series of labs and activities to identity an unknown bacterial species plaguing Anna prior to her death. Students investigate careers related to the post mortem investigation of Anna as well as careers linked to Anna’s life with various diseases, such as heart disease and sickle cell disease. In the first course of the BMS sequence, students are exposed to over 30 careers in the biomedical sciences. This exploration continues in the subsequent courses.

In a Project Lead The Way Classroom, students engage in open-ended projects and problems.

Going back to Anna, When investigating the case of Anna Garcia, students design an experiment to analyze blood spatter stains left at the scene. Analysis of their findings will help them determine the manner of Anna’s death.

In the classroom they also explore Anna’s life with diabetes and students develop plans for an innovation that would help a person with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. This speaks to the real world application and open ended problems presented in a Project Lead The Way BMS Classroom.”

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TEACHER SERVES AS FACILITATOR,

STUDENT IS DIRECTOR OF LEARNING…

… and the classroom becomes a collaboration space

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The BMS curriculum is an interaction between teachers, students, and knowledge – it’s a process, not a product

In a Project Lead The Way Biomedical Science classroom, curriculum is not a physical thing. Curriculum is the interaction of teachers, students and knowledge: a process. Curriculum is actually what happens in the classroom. In this process the teacher takes on the role of facilitator, more of a coach-like figure rather than a disseminator of knowledge. That allows the student to thrive as the director of learning in a Project Lead The Way Classroom Biomedical Science Classroom. Project Lead The Way’s intentional design is a paradigm shift from teacher playing the role of direct instructor to facilitator. We find that students are self-driven and motivated and develop essential skills in a social constructivist learning environment. Biomedical Science projects focus on collaboration and teamwork. Students take ownership of their work. For example in a PLTW BMS course, students investigate the role of heart disease in Anna’s death. They work with teams to design and conduct experiments demonstrating the effects of stress, exercise or position of the body on heart rate and blood pressure. At the end of the course, teams work to evaluate all of the case evidence they have collected the entire year to determine Anna’s final cause of death.

Now that I have given you a look inside a Project Lead The Way Biomedical Science classroom, let’s take a look into each course offered in the program.

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BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE COURSE SEQUENCE

Principles of Biomedical Science (PBS)

Human Body Systems (HBS)

Medical Interventions (MI)

CAPSTONE:

Biomedical Innovation (BI)

UC/CSU a-g approved in lab science (d) category

UC/CSU a-g approved in elective (d) category

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PRINCIPLES OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE (PBS)

*Fulfills the life science graduation requirement

Unit 1: Medical Investigation-Students engage in forensic science and medical examination.

Unit 2: Clinical Care-Students assume the role of different medical professionals.

Unit 3: Outbreaks and Emergencies- Students work as public health officials responding to an outbreak, then as emergency responders.

Unit 4: Innovation, Inc.- Students are welcomed to Innovation, Inc. where they endeavor to solve some of the world’s most pressing biomedical challenges.

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PBS “Case” throughout the year Garcia story

Brief Description:

In the introductory course of the BMS program, students determine factors that led to the death of a fictional person as they study concepts of biology and medicine. While examining an autopsy report they investigate medical history, lifestyle choices, and medical treatments that might have prolonged the person's life. The activities and projects introduce students to human physiology, basic biology, medicine, and research processes while allowing them to design their own experiments to solve problems.

Longer description:

This course provides an introduction to the biomedical sciences through exciting hands- on projects and problems. Students investigate the human body systems and various health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, sickle-cell disease, hypercholesterolemia, and infectious diseases. They determine the factors that led to the death of a fictional person, and investigate lifestyle choices and medical treatments that might have prolonged the person’s life. The activities and projects introduce students to human physiology, medicine, research processes and bioinformatics. Key biological concepts including homeostasis, metabolism, inheritance of traits, and defense against disease are embedded in the curriculum. Engineering principles including the design process, feedback loops, and the relationship of structure to function are also incorporated. This course is designed to provide an overview of all the courses in the Biomedical Science program and lay the scientific foundation for subsequent courses.

Unit 1 – The Mystery

Lesson 1.1 Investigating the Scene

Lesson 1.2 DNA Analysis

Lesson 1.3 The Findings

Unit 2 – Diabetes

Lesson 2.1 What is Diabetes

Lesson 2.2 The Science of Food

Lesson 2.3 Life with Diabetes

Unit 3 – Sickle Cell Disease

Lesson 3.1 The Disease

Lesson 3.2 It’s in the Genes

Lesson 3.3 Chromosomes

Lesson 3.4 Inheritance

Unit 4 – Heart Disease

Lesson 4.1 Heart Structure

Lesson 4.2 The Heart at Work

Lesson 4.3 Heart Dysfunction

Lesson 4.4 Heart Intervention

Unit 5 – Infectious Disease

Lesson 5.1 Infection

Unit 6 – Post Mortem

Lesson 6.1 Analyzing Anna

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Human Body Systems (HBS)

*Articulated with BIO-45 at RCC Norco

Students examine the interactions of body systems as they explore identity, communication, power, movement, protection, and homeostasis. Exploring science in action, students build organs and tissues on a skeletal model, work through interesting real-world cases, and often play the role of biomedical professionals to solve medical mysteries.

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MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS (MI)

*Articulated with BIOL-131 at MSJC

Medical Interventions allows students to investigate the variety of interventions involved in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. The course explores how to prevent and fight infection; how to screen and evaluate the code in our DNA; how to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer; and how to prevail when the organs of the body begin to fail.

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Students study the variety of medical interventions involved in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease as they follow the lives of a fictitious family.

Student projects investigate interventions related to diagnostics, immunology, surgery, genetics, pharmacology, medical devices, and lifestyle choices.

MI – Case based- scenarios span each unit. Students investigate the variety of interventions involved in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease as they follow the lives of a fictitious family.

Outbreak on a College Campus (Unit 1 – How to Fight Infection)

Students investigate a simulated outbreak and explore the diagnostic process used to identify a mystery infection. Students determine the identity of this agent by completing bioinformatics analysis as well as antibody-based wet lab tests.

Given the infection is bacterial, students then investigate the classes of antibiotics used to treat disease and explore antibiotic resistance.

As an aftermath of her illness, the patient, Sue Smith, is left with hearing impairment. Students investigate the physiology of the ear as well as the variety of innovations available to assist patients with hearing loss.

Finally, students discuss the prevention of infectious disease and the action of vaccines.

Unit 1 – How to Fight Infection

Lesson 1.1 – The Mystery Infection

Lesson 1.2 – Antibiotic Treatment

Lesson 1.3 – The Aftermath: Hearing Loss

Lesson 1.4 – Vaccination

Unit 2 – How to Screen What is in Your Genes

Lesson 2.1 – Genetic Testing and Screening

Lesson 2.2 – Our Genetic Future

Unit 3 – How to Conquer Cancer

Lesson 3.1 – Detecting Cancer

Lesson 3.2 – Reducing Your Risk

Lesson 3.3 – Treating Cancer

Lesson 3.4 – Building a Better Cancer Treatment

Unit 4 – How to Prevail When Organs Fail

Lesson 4.1 – Manufacturing Human Proteins

Lesson 4.2 – Organ Failure

Lesson 4.3 – Transplant

Lesson 4.4 – Building a Better Body

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BIOMEDICAL INNOVATION (BI) CAPSTONE

*Articulated with BIOL-134 at MSJC

In this capstone course students design innovative solutions for the health challenges of the 21st century as they work through progressively challenging, open-ended problems, addressing topics such as clinical medicine, physiology, biomedical engineering, and public health. Students are celebrated in a special white coat ceremony, and they also have the opportunity to work on an independent project with a mentor or advisor from a university, hospital, physician’s office, or industry.

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Capstone course

Progressively challenging problems

Flexible design

Apply knowledge and skills learned in all previous courses

Opportunity to work with mentor(s)

Multiple presentations

BI – Case-based scenarios staged in multi-part “missions” – each culminating in an open-ended project.

Design of An Effective ER (Problem 1)

Students apply their knowledge of emergency medical careers, diagnostic testing and patient evaluation, human body systems, and medical interventions to analyze the workings of an emergency room and discuss inefficiencies that may hinder appropriate clinical care. Student teams will work collaboratively to design a more efficient emergency medicine delivery system

Add pictures of student designs/Revit files?

Investigating Environmental Health (Problem 4)

Students use publicly available databases, as well as personal contacts and visits, to uncover possible sources of environmental contamination in the community and to assess risk and level of exposure to people, wildlife, and environmental resources. Students will use their compiled information to design an action plan to increase awareness, monitor resources or individuals in the community, improve conditions, and ensure a clean and safe environment

Design of a Medical Innovation (Problem 3)

Students review the diseases and disorders as well as the corresponding medical interventions they have investigated in the previous courses and propose a new or better medical device, pharmaceutical, surgical procedure, or genetic intervention. Students will work with a team to build a prototype, model, or schematic of the intervention as well as develop a marketing plan for the product.

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https://Biomedical Sciences Video

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Not currently slated to attend Arlington High School?

Special Program Transfers Information

All transfer forms are attached below. Please print/screenshot the form, complete, then upload this form into the Biomedical Science Program Application.

INTRA-District: Family lives within RUSD boundaries, but belongs to a different RUSD high school based on their address. This is a request for a transfer within RUSD. If approved, and the student remains in the program and maintains a grade of a C or higher, the transfer is valid for all 4 years of high school.

District of Choice (DOC): Family lives outside of RUSD boundaries and belongs to a different school district. The parent would fill out this form and submit it directly to the program coordinator. They do not need to request an Interdistrict Transfer release from their district of residence. If approved, and student remains in the program and maintains a grade of a C or higher, the transfer is valid for all 4 years of high school.

INTER-District (pending): Family lives outside of RUSD boundaries and belongs to a different school district. The parent needs to contact their district of residence to obtain an Interdistrict transfer release for the 2025-26 school year. When their district of residence signs and approves the release, the parent must submit it to RUSD Pupil Services at the CRC. The interdistrict transfer release must be renewed annually. Pupil services will need both the biomed program transfer form and the interdistrict transfer release form in order to process the transfer. Parents must fill out and submit the transfer form during the transfer window and must obtain the interdistrict release from their district of residence as soon as possible-otherwise it's incomplete.

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